My First Bloggiesta

I’d never heard of Bloggiesta before yesterday, but once I’d found out what it was, I was excited to participate! Bloggiesta, hosted by Natasha, is a weekend marathon during which bloggers focus on their blogs, creating goals or to-do lists ahead of time and then using the weekend to get things done. I have some things I’d like to accomplish with regards to Erin Reads, and I really enjoyed my first Readathon last October, so I’m looking forward to participating in Bloggiesta! It runs from today through Sunday.

I’ll post my regular weekend schedule (My Week in Books and the Sunday Salon), using this post as a place to keep track of my to-do list and mini-challenges instead of posting updates.

Here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish over the Bloggiesta weekend:

Reorganize blog-related folders on my hard drive

Clean out blog photos I took but never used

Play around with new widgets to see if I can find anything cool to add

Clean out WordPress plug-ins and get rid of the ones I’m not using

Explore new plug-in options

Create a file for keeping frequently used links (like to readalongs and challenges) for easy reference

Create files or find a plug-in to keep track of post templates

Play with menu setup

Finish revamping my Google Reader

Write reviews for Leviathan, Behemoth, and The Interpreter of Maladies

Brainstorm and plan new types of posts (midway through a book, monthly wrap-ups, etc.)

Make buttons for new post types

Tweak existing post types (add links to other reviews? etc.)

Catch up on Google Reader and implement any further tips or tricks I can find

Brainstorm Sunday Salon topics

Update GoodReads and LibraryThing with reviews

Organize my email inbox(This took HOURS, but I went from 3000+ total emails in my inbox to just 14! Learning about Gmail’s Archive feature was amazingly helpful!)

Your button looks great! Thanks for taking the time to try out my mini-challenge. Good luck with your bloggiesta to do list!

Erin

Thanks, Callista! Your mini challenge gave me the push I needed to mess around with some new buttons.

http://alitareads.wordpress.com Alita

Looks like you’re having an awesome Bloggiesta! My main goal for the weekend is to simply catch up on reviews. I have no idea how they got so backed up!

Erin

I hope your catching up is going well! I have a few to do as well, though I’ve been ignoring them thus far. Good think there’s a day left!

http://www.joyweesemoll.com/ Joy Weese Moll

Nice button! Great list of goals — good luck with them.

Erin

Thanks! Good luck to you as well.

http://www.lifewithbooks.com Jenners

Great list … I might have to “borrow” some of your to do items. You gave me some good ideas.

Erin

Please do! I’ve been “borrowing” left and right

http://www.readseverything.blogspot.com Dee

Hello! Just attempted a button for my blog, still not sure how to get the code below so viewers can grab it!
Any suggestions?

Erin

Sorry, Dee, I’ve never tried to create a button with grabbable code! I’d suggest maybe finding a blogger who has such a button and then asking them. Good luck!

http://books.readingchick.com sharon

Oooo! Good idea to have a list of things to accomplish! Next time I’ll be more organized. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment, isn’t it?

Erin

It is! The list helped a lot, even though it just about doubled as I added to it and accomplished things. It’s nice to have a record of what I did, too. I hope your Bloggiesta was productive!

http://www.rebeccareid.com Rebecca Reid

I have a LT button on my site. Much small than your social media buttons. Someone made it for me when I was whining on twitter on how I couldn’t find any. Can’t remember who, and I feel bad about that. I can send you the files — have three colors — if you want it. send me an email.

Erin

Thanks, Rebecca! I just sent you an email.

http://www.lovelaughterinsanity.com Trish

I know–pitifully late. For some reason, even though I’ve never participated, I love reading through people’s lists. Curious how you’ve been making your buttons. I would like to figure out how to do this a little better. Where do you get your images, etc?

Also email is my downfall. I keep thinking my life will be so much better when I can get on top of email (personal and work!), but I always seem to run out of time.

Erin

All the lists are inspiring, aren’t they? My to-do list kept getting longer with every Bloggiesta post I read!

As for buttons: I take the photos myself, since I don’t like messing with copyright laws. They’re my own books arranged in different ways. I used to use a program called Paintbrush (for Mac) to do basic things like cropping and adding text, but I’ve recently started learning a very powerful, free image editing program called GIMP. The newer buttons (like Reading Buddies, and the slightly revised Classics Reclamation Project button that’s now in my sidebar) were all made using GIMP. I’m big on uniformity, which is why all my buttons are square, are the same size, and use the same font! Is that too much info? Or are there questions I haven’t answered? Feel free to ask others, either here or by email

I felt so accomplished when I got my inbox down to a single page! My husband and I watched a couple of movies during Bloggiesta, and I just sat on the couch with my laptop, weeding through email. It took forever, but man, does it feel good. It’s already starting to creep back up, though, so I’m going to have to be strict!